Macron explicitly told NATO: No way!, Involving Japanese sources | NATO | Macron
According to the Asahi Shimbun on July 9th, French President Macron has expressed opposition to NATO's plan to establish an office in Tokyo, Japan.
The report stated that this news was leaked by the French Presidential Office. On the 7th, sources from the French Presidential Office cited Article 6 of the NATO Charter, clearly stating that "we do not support it on a principled basis.". The above provisions stipulate that the "geographical scope" of implementing collective defense targets includes the territory of the contracting states and any islands under the jurisdiction of the contracting states within the North Atlantic region north of the Tropic of Cancer.
▲ Image: French President Macron and NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg shake hands at a joint press conference. Xinhua News Agency/Meilian
Sources from the French presidential palace also revealed that Macron expressed opposition to NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg in a "very clear form".
According to reports, in January this year, Stoltenberg discussed the idea of establishing a NATO liaison office in Tokyo during his visit to Japan.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on May 4 that the Japanese government and NATO related people disclosed that NATO is deepening its cooperation with Japan in areas such as network defense, and will set up a liaison office in Tokyo in 2024. For NATO, this will be its first operational agency located in the Asia Pacific region. NATO sources said, "We will invite Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to attend the summit in Lithuania in July and hope to develop a new specification of cooperation plan before that."
Asahi Shimbun pointed out that considering the issue of "dealing with China", NATO hopes to strengthen cooperation with countries such as Japan, and therefore regards Japan as a partner country in the "Indo Pacific region". The establishment of the Tokyo office is part of NATO's strengthened cooperation with Japan, but this must be approved by all NATO member countries.